Skype, Microsoft investigating breach exposing IP addresses

(CBS News) Skype, the voice and chat client, has reportedly become vulnerable to a patch that lets third parties learn the IP address of Skype users.

Skype and its parent company Microsoft are looking into the matter, reports PC Magazine. Microsoft bought the Internet communications company in 2011.

"We are investigating reports of a new tool that allegedly captures a Skype user's last known IP address. This is an ongoing, industry-wide issue faced by all peer-to-peer software companies," a Skype spokesperson told CNET. "We are committed to the safety and security of our customers and we are takings measures to help protect them."

Instruction of how to find any users' IP address, using a patch for Skype version 5.5, was posted on note-sharing site Pastebin last week.

"This is help you to get info about skype user: City, Country, Internet provider and internal user ip-address," [sic] the Pastebin note said.

Although city and country can be found, it doesn't reveal a person's name or specific information. It's also worth noting that the patch only works if both parties are online. One way to protect your IP address is to sign off when not using Skype.